Hebrew daily "Ma'ariv" has sent, or will shortly send, summons for a hearing to 30 correspondents, ahead of firing them, as the paper struggles with its troubled financial circumstances. Ma'ariv Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MARV-M) CEO Tal Raz yesterday notified employees that the company was on the eve of "a painful process that will involve foregoing outstanding human capital which has worked shoulder-to-shoulder with us and was a loyal partner on the road."
Sources inform ''Globes'' that the correspondents set to be let go include veteran political commentator Shalom Yerushalmi, weekend edition correspondent Tal Ariel Amir, senior sports correspondents and commentators Ron Amikam and Avi Ornan, and tourism correspondent Ravit Naor. Ma'ariv has also terminated its contracts with chef Meir Adoni, who writes a food column, and Channel 10 News foreign correspondent Nadav Eyal, who writes occasional foreign affairs pieces.
In a notice to the TASE yesterday, Ma'ariv Holdings said, "The company is reviewing options for future measures to improve its business situation." It added, "The board of directors has instructed management to prepare and submit within a short time, proposals to substantially reduce the company's expenditures, including by changing the way the company operates in its core business areas."
In the wake of the pending layoffs, several correspondents told "Globes" that they wonder how "Ma'ariv" will be able to survive without correspondents to write for it. "When Carlebach founded "Ma'ariv", he established it as a paper to be run by journalists, but its current and past managers are not journalists, but men, who in the best case, managed big companies," a Ma'ariv executive told "Globes". "We need humane management."
Naor, Amikam, Ariel Amir, and Yerushalmi all said, "No comment", and the other correspondents mentioned could not be reached.
Nochi Dankner controls Ma'ariv Holdings through Discount Investment Corporation (TASE: DISI). Ma'ariv's share price was unchanged in morning trading today at NIS 2.22, giving a market cap of NIS 254 million, and Discount Investment's share price fell a further 2% to NIS 7.52, giving a market cap of NIS 642 million.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 20, 2012
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012